Cheap smartphones are one thing. Cheap-er iPhones are another.

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Apple's senior VP of worldwide marketing Phil Schiller threw Apple-watchers for a loop on Thursday by stating that cheap smartphones will "never be the future of Apple products." Schiller made the comments to the Shanghai Evening News (verified by The Next Web as a real interview with Apple), noting that Apple's goal is to use the best technology available in order "to provide the best product to the market."

On their own, Schiller's comments are unremarkable—they fall on the party line that Apple's main, maniacal goal is to sell customers the best products they can possibly create. However, Schiller's comments come just days after numerous news outlets cited sources claiming Apple was gearing up to launch a cheaper version of the iPhone in the second half of 2013. The timing of those rumors plus Schiller's comments have given pause to many observers, as they seem to debunk the information given to DigiTimes, the Wall Street Journal, and Bloomberg earlier this week.

But it's important to keep in mind Apple's messaging when talking about its future plans (or lack thereof). Apple's executives have spoken poorly about video on mobile phones, netbooks, tablets, and more—all before implementing their own version of those things later on. The wording is key in these instances; Schiller talks about "cheap smartphones," which to him means handsets made of low-quality materials for the purpose of being as cheap as possible. This is a different realm than a potentially cheaper iPhone—Apple already sells older iPhone for relatively cheap (or free) without feeling like the company is compromising its principles. A cheaper iPhone may indeed be cheaper than what we're used to, but it's unlikely to end up being what Apple considers to be "cheap."

Another way of looking at it is this: the iPod nano is cheaper than the iPod, but it's not a "cheap" product. Same as the iPad mini—it would be hard to argue that the device is of low-quality (retina display aside), but it's certainly more affordable than its jumbo-sized sibling.

Update: The original quote from the Chinese newspaper has since been changed; TNW has details (scroll to the update), but the quote no longer has Schiller saying cheap iPhones will never be the future of Apple products, and now the headline reads "Apple will not push a cheaper smartphone for the sake of market share."

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Jacqui Cheng
Jacqui is an Editor at Large at Ars Technica, where she has spent the last eight years writing about Apple culture, gadgets, social networking, privacy, and more. Emailjacqui@arstechnica.com//Twitter@eJacqui